A long four years separate
Diamond Eyes
from
Saturday Night Wrist
, four years that were sadly packed with peril for
Deftones
. Bassist
Chi Cheng
suffered injuries so severe in a November 2008 auto accident the band took a hiatus, eventually honoring prior touring commitments by hiring
Quicksand
bassist
Sergio Vega
, and eventually cutting a full album with him on board and scrapping a near-completed album in the process. Given this serious trauma, it's only logical that
functioned as musical therapy for
, but the surprise is that it has little downcast lyrical angst-mining, preferring atmosphere to bloodletting. Naturally, there is quite a bit of roiling darkness here -- they're
Cure
-loving metalheads, it's in their blood -- but there's shade and light, control of texture, with the band deepening rather than expanding. Above all, it's a mature album:
skirted the obvious response to their tragedy, realizing that the left turn is a more rewarding journey. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine